kennedy and people, bill clinton, walter mondale, i can list practically every presidential candidate on the democratic ticket for those 60 years, they all turned to him because they realized he was kind of serving as a kind of liberal conscience to that generation of political people. and the a way they needed -- in a way they needed his validation to be able to appeal to the liberal constituency that he tended to represent. >> but a hard-headed kind of liberalism. >> that's right. >> which is where -- he was so close to stevenson and did not make the transition to kennedy overnight. could you talk about that transition to shift from libertyville to hyannis? >> well, that's very interesting because you used the word hardheaded. he was very disappointed -- he, obviously, adored stevenson, e worked for him twice. but be at the same time, he felt that stevenson seemed rather passive on the issue of civil rights. and he was very, as tom points out, he had woken to that issue from having that visit in the mid 1940s to the south. and he tried to urge stevenson to make a commitment to prote